Democrats grit teeth as Senate begins hearings on Trump Cabinet

Posted: 4:29 pm Monday, January 9th, 2017

By Jamie Dupree

As the first two nominees of President-Elect Donald Trump go before U.S. Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday, Democrats admit they have little chance to derail any of those nominees, unless GOP Senators turn against one of Mr. Trump’s picks, all because of a Senate rules change engineered in 2013 to help President Obama.

When Democrats used the “nuclear option” to take away a 60 vote requirement to end filibusters against administration nominees, that not only helped Mr. Obama – but now it will greatly aid Mr. Trump as well.

#TrumpCabinet confirmation & 2013 Democrat elimination of confirmation filibuster reminds us that politicians like CEOs take short term view

“I argued against it at the time,” Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer admitted in a recent interview with CNN’s Dana Bash. “I said for both Supreme Court and Cabinet, it should be sixty.”

“I wish it hadn’t happened,” Schumer added with a frustrated look on his face.

The issue has been mentioned often in the hallways of the Capitol in recent days, as Democrats rail against Trump nominees, but have little chance to do anything about it, as Republicans hold a 52-48 advantage in the Senate.

“Do you regret that Harry Reid went nuclear with the filibuster?” a reporter asked Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) last week.

“At the time, he had no choice,” Durbin said.

Durbin left our small group of reporters without really directly answering that question, though other Democrats have openly acknowledged that it now feels like a mistake.

“The filibuster no longer acts as an emergency brake,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) admitted to CNN after the November elections.

“I do regret that,” Coons added.

Democrats can still drag their feet and slow things down – it is the Senate after all – but if Republicans stick together, the Trump Cabinet should be approved.

If Republicans had to deal with a 60 vote requirement on Cabinet nominations, it certainly might have changed who was picked by Mr. Trump.

But the rules did change – and Republicans stand to benefit in 2017.

And Trump’s supporters are very pleased.

The good news is that thanks to Harry Reid's instigation of the "nuclear option" in 2013, Democrats have no power to deny #Trump's picks.😬